Bioinformatics

News Releases

Public Release: 13-Apr-2014 Nature GeneticsFinding the switch: Researchers create roadmap for gene expression
In a new study, researchers from North Carolina State University, UNC-Chapel Hill and other institutions have taken the first steps toward creating a roadmap that may help scientists narrow down the genetic cause of numerous diseases. Their work also sheds new light on how heredity and environment can affect gene expression.
NIH/National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 13-Apr-2014 Nature GeneticsVirus-fighting genes linked to mutations in cancer
All cancer-causing processes leave a distinct mutational imprint or signature on the genomes of patients. A team from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute has found a major piece of biological evidence to support the role a group of virus-fighting genes has in cancer development. The mutational signature left by the cancer-causing process driven by this family of genes is found in half of all cancer types.

Public Release: 10-Apr-2014 eLifePlanaria deploy an ancient gene expression program in the course of organ regeneration
In the April 15, 2014, issue of the online journal eLife, Stowers Institute for Medical Research Investigator Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado and colleagues report the identification of genes that worms use to rebuild an amputated pharynx.
Stowers Institute for Medical Research, National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Public Release: 9-Apr-2014 Clinical & Experimental MetastasisTGen identifies growth factor receptors that may prompt metastatic spread of lung cancer
Two cell surface receptors might be responsible for the most common form of lung cancer spreading to other parts of the body, according to a study by the Translational Genomics Research Institute. The hepatocyte growth factor receptor and fibroblast growth factor-inducible 14 are proteins associated with the potential spread of non-small cell lung cancer, according to the TGen study published online April 8 by the scientific journal Clinical & Experimental Metastasis.
National Institutes of Health, St. Joseph's Foundation, American Lung Association

Public Release: 9-Apr-2014 NatureUC San Diego researchers develop bacterial 'FM radio'
A team of biologists and engineers at UC San Diego has developed a 'rapid and tunable post-translational coupling' for genetic circuits.
National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 8-Apr-2014
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2014TGen Dr. Michael Barrett awarded $200,000 grant at national cancer conference in San Diego
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and the American Association for Cancer Research awarded a $200,000 grant today to Dr. Michael Barrett of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen). Dr. Barrett, an Associate Professor in TGen's Clinical Translational Research Division, was one of 14 'outstanding scientists' across the nation named to receive a total of $5 million in grants for pancreatic cancer research.
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, American Association for Cancer Research

Public Release: 8-Apr-2014 Nature ConservationImproved access to integrated biodiversity data for science, practice, and policy
The world's biodiversity faces an ongoing decline and closer interaction between science and policy has been proposed as a main route towards improvement. A recent paper, published in the open access journal Nature Conservation, points out how the EU-funded project EU BON will contribute towards a more efficient science-policy dialogue for biodiversity.

Public Release: 8-Apr-2014 GeneticsNew method confirms humans and Neandertals interbred
Technical objections to the idea that Neandertals interbred with the ancestors of Eurasians have been overcome, thanks to a genome analysis method described in the April 2014 issue of the journal GENETICS. The technique can more confidently detect the genetic signatures of interbreeding than previous approaches and will be useful for evolutionary studies of other ancient or rare DNA samples.
National Environmental Research Council UK

Public Release: 7-Apr-2014 Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesSeeing double: New study explains evolution of duplicate genes
From time to time, living cells will accidentally make an extra copy of a gene during the normal replication process. Throughout the history of life, evolution has molded some of these seemingly superfluous genes into a source of genetic novelty, adaptation and diversity. A new study shows one way that some duplicate genes could have long-ago escaped elimination from the genome, leading to the genetic innovation seen in modern life.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 7-Apr-2014 Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesGenetic predisposition to liking amphetamine reduces risk of schizophrenia and ADHD
Genetic variants associated with enjoying the effects of d-amphetamine -- the active ingredient in Adderall -- are also associated with a reduced risk for developing schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, report scientists from the University of Chicago in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on April 7. The results support a long-standing hypothesis that dopamine, the neurotransmitter connected with the euphoric effects of amphetamine, is related to schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 4-Apr-2014 The EMBO JournalSome long non-coding RNAs are conventional after all
Researchers have come full circle and predicted that some long non-coding RNAs can give rise to small proteins that have biological functions. A recent study in The EMBO Journal describes how researchers have used ribosome profiling to identify several hundred long non-coding RNAs that may give rise to small peptides.

Public Release: 3-Apr-2014Synthetic biology lab backed by £2 million award
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have been awarded £2M to build a state-of-the-art DNA synthesis facility, a capability offering much needed tools for genome engineering to the academic and private sectors.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Public Release: 2-Apr-2014 TechnologyDiffeomorphometry and geodesic positioning systems for human anatomy
A team of researchers from the Center for Imaging Science at the Johns Hopkins University and the CMLA of the École Normale Supérieure Cachan have demonstrated new algorithmic technologies for the parametric representation of human shape and form. Coupled with advanced imaging technologies, this presents opportunities for tracking soft-tissue deformations associated with cardiovascular studies, radiation treatment planning in Oncology, and neurodegenerative brain illnesses.
National Institute of Health, French Agence nationale de la recherche

Public Release: 2-Apr-2014 Journal of NeuroscienceNoisy brain signals: How the schizophrenic brain misinterprets the world
A new study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital -- The Neuro -- at McGill University and McGill University Health Centre, reveals that certain errors in visual perception in people with schizophrenia are consistent with interference or 'noise' in a brain signal known as a corollary discharge.

Public Release: 1-Apr-2014UM Institute for Genome Sciences receives FDA contract to expand genome sequence database
Researchers at the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have been awarded a research program contract from the US Food and Drug Administration to sequence, assemble, and annotate a population of bacterial pathogens using two high-throughput sequencing technologies in support of the expansion of a vetted public reference database.

Public Release: 30-Mar-2014 Nature GeneticsGenetic mutations warn of skin cancer risk
In a study published in Nature Genetics, researchers have discovered that mutations in a specific gene are responsible for a hereditary form of skin cancer. These mutations inactivate the POT1 gene that protects our chromosomes, and, in turn, results in skin cancer. The mechanism that underlies this form of skin cancer is also a potential target for drug development in this subset of melanoma patients.

Public Release: 27-Mar-2014 Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesCancer researchers find key protein link
A new understanding of proteins at the nexus of a cell's decision to survive or die has implications for researchers who study cancer and age-related diseases.
National Institutes of Health, Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas, Israeli Science Foundation, European Research Council

Public Release: 27-Mar-2014 Systematic BiologyStrictly yeast
Researchers at the National Collection of Yeast Cultures at the Institute of Food Research have turned a problem in evolutionary biology into a new tool to better understand phylogeny in closely related species. Resequencing ribosomal DNA in closely related yeast species has given them new information about the origins of modern yeast strains and a useful tool for evolutionary biologists.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Public Release: 27-Mar-2014 Biodiversity Data JournalDespatch from the field
A new spider species was discovered during a student field course in Malaysian Borneo. The species was described and submitted online to Biodiversity Data Journal through a satellite internet connection. The manuscript was peer-reviewed and published within two weeks. On the day of publication, software tools extracted the occurrence data of the species and submitted these to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. In a similar way data was exported to Encyclopedia of Life.

Public Release: 26-Mar-2014 eLifeHow size splits cells
Contrary to previous findings suggesting a protein measures cell length, a different protein is found to measure the cell's surface area.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 26-Mar-2014New database features 710,000 natural history records from Canadian Museum of Nature
A new, free open-access database has opened the collections of Canada's national natural history museum, with 710,000 specimen records available at nature.ca. These cover about 22 percent of the museum's overall collection of plants, animals, fossils and minerals, which have been collected over more than 150 years.